Housing construction for radio apparatus



Oct. 17, 1939. E. L. BROWN HOUSING CONSTRUCTION FOR RADIO APPARATUS Filed Feb. 23, 1937 INVENTOR. f/mer L firm W7 BY G Z ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 17, 1939 UNITED STATES HOUSING CONSTRUCTION FOR RADIO APPARATUS Elmer L. Brown, San Francisco, Calif., assignor to Joseph B. Smith, trustee San Francisco, Calif., as

Application February 23, 1937, Serial No. 127,064

1 Claim.

This invention relates generally to radio apparatus, where the apparatus makes use of an assembly unit for purposes of radio reception or transmission, or both. The invention is concerned particularly with the construction of a housing or casing for the assembly unit.

In general it is an object of the invention to provide a housing construction, which will make possible removal of an inner assembly unit merely by removal of a bottom wall of the housing, and without necessitating removal of bolts, screws, or like permanent attaching means.

Further objects of the invention will appear from the following description in which the preferred embodiment of the invention has been set forth in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front view, showing radio apparatus incorporating the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

As pointed out above the present invention resides particularly in the manner in which a radio assembly unit is carried within a housing, and in the manner in which the housing is constructed to permit the quick removal of the inner unit for inspection or repair. The radio assembly unit illustrated in Figs, 1 and 2 consists of a rectangular shaped mounting I0, formed of suitable material such as sheet metal. Certain parts, such as the radio tubes, are mounted upon the upper wall of the mounting, while other parts, like tuning condensers, inductances, etc., are carried within the mounting. One particular part carried by the mounting I0, consists of a loud speaker II. The assembly unit can be made to constitute a radio receiver, a radio transmitter, or both a radio transmitter and a radio receiver. In the particular instance illustrated it constitutes both a radio receiver and radio transmitter, the loudspeaker II being a part of the radio receiving means.

The mounting Ill and associated parts are normally disposed within the housing I2. This housing is rectangular in shape and formed of sheet metal, the walls of the same including the top wall I3, front and back walls I4 and I5, bottom wall it, and end walls IT. The mounting it of the assembly unit normally rests upon the bottom wall It, there being no other attachment between the mounting I0 and the remainder of the housing.

The bottom wall I6 is made removable, preferably by means of an interlocking engagement with the remainder of the housing, whereby the wall I6 is removed or applied by sliding movement in a horizontal direction. Thus the bottom edge portions of the end walls I! are shown bent outwardly to form tongues I8, while the end portions of the bottom wall I6 are doubled back upon themselves as indicated at I9, thus affording a groove for slidably accommodating the tongues I8. The forward edge of the bottom wall Iii is shown provided with an upturned flange H, which normally engages front wall I4, as shown in Fig. 2. A part of this flange is shown extended to form a slotted tab 22, which cooperates with a ball 23, mounted upon the front wall l4, whereby the bottom wall can be locked in normal position by means of a padlock 24, or like device.

The radio assembly unit conventionally in cludes certain control shafts, which extend to a convenient position exterior of the housing, for manipulation by the operator. Thus in this instance control knobs 26 and 21 are shown mounted upon shafts which extend from the assembly mounting I ii, and which are accommodated by slots 23, formed in the lower edge of the front Wall I4.

It will be evident that when the bottom wall It is removed by sliding movement in a forward direction, the inner assembly unit is free to drop downwardly, since there is no attachment between this unit and the remainder of the housing, other than frictional engagement. The rigid ring 3|, which forms a part of the loudspeaker II, has its forward face provided with rubber or felt 32, to contact the inner face of the forward wall I4. In accordance with conventional practice the forward wall is also cut away in front of the loudspeaker, to afford the usual grill 33. The proportioning of mounting I0 is such that when the entire unit is forced upwardly into the housing, and the bottom wall It applied to support the mounting, the felt 32 is pressed against the inner face of front wall I4, thus tending to avoid any rattling or lost motion between the inner unit and the housing, particularly when the apparatus is used as a part of a mobile system on automobiles or aircraft. Instead of attaching the bottom wall It to a fixed support, the back wall is provided with cushioned supporting brackets. Thus the bottom wall I6 is readily accessible for quick removal, without removing the housing as a whole from its supporting means.

I claim:

In radio apparatus making use of a radio assembly unit, a metal box adapted to be carried by a fixed mounting, the front vertical wall of said box having its lower edge portion slotted in a vertical direction, to accommodate control shafts, a bottom wall for the box serving to support an inner assembly unit, and means forming an interlocking engagement between said bottom wall and walls of the box, said interlocking engagement enabling removal of said. bottom wall only by sliding movement of the same in a horizontal plane.

ELMER L. BROWN. 

